Minimalist Home Tour – Real Life Minimalism With Kids

Firstly, I am a normal mum with three normal kids. I did put away the toys that were on the floor before I took photos – my house isn’t permanently immaculate! But these photos aren’t staged. This is pretty much how it looks every time I put the toys away.

Secondly, I live in a normal house. I have a dodgy yellow kitchen, biro scribbled on the walls and sofas, and lot of mismatched furniture. If you’re looking for stunning lines and show home decor, you might want to try somewhere else 😉

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at our 840sq/ft home.

Minimalist Home Tour – Downstairs

We have three rooms downstairs: a kitchen, a small conservatory and a lounge diner.

There are no hallways and the front door comes straight in where the photo below is taken from. This is where we spend most of our time in the house:

Here’s how it looks from the other side of this room.

The chest next to the piano belonged to my mother, who passed away recently. It has some of her things still inside, but I will sell this when I have emptied it as it takes up more room than we have and there is nowhere else in the house it can really go.

Next we have our conservatory, which is really tiny. It’s about 2m x 3m, so I had to take two photos to show you the whole room.

It gets very cold out here in the winter, hence the oil radiator that has just come out of the garage. The pumpkins we recently picked from a local farm, ready for carving.

Finally we have the kitchen.

This is the only room in the house that I haven’t done anything with yet.The kitchen has been completely refitted! I will update pics soon.

I have painted every other room plain white over the years, but the kitchen requires a whole lot of other work.

Both the fridge and freezer are on the counter top, which I don’t like, and the bins are in the way of the back door, which I don’t use (we go through the conservatory to get into our tiny garden).

I would like to completely renovate this room, but it’s a big job and costly too. It’s something I am thinking of doing, but I haven’t quite committed to it yet as I’d have to do a fair bit of it myself. Watch this space though.

Minimalist Home Tour – Upstairs

I love my bedroom!

It only has wardrobes and a chest of drawers in it and nothing else. I used to have a bedside cabinet, but I put that inside one of the wardrobes when I had my daughter’s cot next to the bed. When she (finally) moved into her own room, I had gotten used to not having it, so I never put it back.

I love how clean and empty it feels. It’s easy to unwind and relax and there are no distractions. When I go to bed, I might read for a while, but I generally go straight to sleep.

The kids rooms are fairly typical. My children have posters on the wall, and a fairly good selection of toys. I talk about the importance of people over things to them, and how stuff doesn’t necessarily bring happiness, but at the end of the day, minimalism is my thing, not theirs.

They will grow up and make their own choices. I hope that I can instil the value of a life with less stuff in them by being a good role model.

Here’s the room my two youngest share:

They both love stickers. I told them they were allowed to put them on their own furniture, which stops them from sticking them all over the rest of the house 😉

Next is my eldest son’s bedroom. The pictures of WW2 planes on the walls came from my Mum’s flat after she died. My son knows almost everything there is to know about WW2 and he was desperate to keep them, so I hung them on the wall for him.

There is also a wardrobe off to the right of the first picture that you can’t see:

That just leaves the hallway upstairs (all the books belong to the children), and the bathroom:

And that’s pretty much it.

Thanks for coming along with me on a quick minimalist home tour of my house. Was it what you were expecting? Did you think I would have less, or more?

14 thoughts on “Minimalist Home Tour – Real Life Minimalism With Kids”

So grateful for your reality. I love it. I was glad to see details/choices like family photos being present and meaningful and not after thoughts. Very clarifying and refreshing to look at and helps me move more toward similar. Thank you.

I’m so glad you commented. When I collected all the photos together I looked at them and thought maybe people would think I wasn’t particularly minimalist because of all the photos I have on display. I love photography and I love pictures of my family, so for me it makes me feel happy, but I know it’s not strictly minimalistic! I do think minimalism is in the choosing of what we value above all the noise and clutter, and there is no “right” way to go about it. Thank you 🙂

You’re most welcome. I agree that we deserve to have things around us that contribute to our well being and some family photos do that for me too. I’ve seen pics of some Japanese Uber minimalism where it’s just a room and a toothbrush on the windowsill. That’s too extreme for me! I like to be able to put things away but still have a cozy warm feeling. Your house also has a nice almost Scandinavian feel to it maybe because of the light wood and neutral colors. Still love it!

I loved the photos of your home. I am an average, middle class mom of 1 and whenever I search for minimalism inspiration I end up finding what can only be staged photos of an impossible reality for me. This – your house – this is real minimalism. Congratulations!

Thank you so much 😊. It is much easier for young singles to showcase minimalism and own nothing than for families with a fixed home. But we can still do SO much to clear our space and give ourselves back some time and energy.

This is awesome, thank you. We have 3 kids under 4, and are living on a small budget so find that most of the examples we see are completely unrealistic. I love simplicity, but also love colour, so I would do everything exactly the same as you except I would paint the walls bright colours! I particularly like the bookshelves either side of the door to the conservatory. I think there is something hugely satisfying about furniture that fits perfectly in the space you want it to. Our kitchen is much worse than yours, but we have no time or money to sort it out – currently the cabinets, worktops, floor, walls and blind are all different colours, and don’t co-ordinate…but one day I will fix it!

Thank you! Yes, a lot of examples online are SO far away from normal family life. And there is nothing to say you can’t have photos, bright colours or anything that you love. The principle is about living with less and focusing on life, not stuff. So glad you enjoyed it and thank you for stopping by 🙂

Just read your article on decluttering & loved it! It makes sooo much sense! My home looks like yours did. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I am looking forward to beginning the declutter process. I have been overwhelmed due to my health and the volume of clutter. Thank you! Thank you!💕💕💕

It looks so good! This is just what I needed to see! I wanted to see minimalism with a family (I have 3 children, also) that WASN’T STAGED. Your home is beautiful! Your children’s rooms are perfect. And, I thought your kitchen was lovely.

Hey Faye,
Your house a cute little cozy place to enjoy a quality life. Just one thing to add about your mother’s chest. I hope you have not gotten rid of it. Maybe you can use it as a center table and give away your table in living room. Just a suggestion 😉